


At Your Service, Captain!

by JkawaiiNeko



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: F/M, Friendship/Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-06-05 07:49:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6696085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JkawaiiNeko/pseuds/JkawaiiNeko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Cress lands on Earth all alone she meets Thorne, the millionaire playboy, and becomes his live-in maid. As they start to grow feelings for each other their pasts start to haunt them, causing Cress and Thorne to struggle with battling each other's demons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Cress could remember exactly how she felt the moment she had stepped foot onto Earth for the first time. She had just crashed down in her satellite- finally escaped from Sybil’s watching eye. 

Finally, free.

At first she had been shocked that she had survived the crash and sat still buckled into her seat blinking. But as soon as she had dared to emerge from the satellite and her bare feet had touched the ground, feeling the cool and thick mud as her feet sank into it both fascinated and slightly repelled her. All at once her senses were bombarded. The sensation of the heavy rain pelting down on her body and soaking through her thin dress made her feel like she would drown but she knew better from the vast amount of research she had done on Earth. 

She stuck her tongue out as she had seen a girl in a net-drama do, tasting the water pouring down from the heavens. She laughed and spread her arms out, twirling around in unsuppressed glee.

Freedom. 

Once she had gotten enough of the rain, finding that she was suddenly freezing, she had at first been at a loss for what to do. Her satellite was mostly destroyed, but she did manage to salvage a few essentials such as food and water from it. She had hunkered under a particularly large part of the wreckage, drying off with a blanket then trying to seal herself in its warmth until morning.

When the sun had risen and warmed her efficiently, she drank some water and ate some of the dried food. She then trekked in a random direction, hoping she would find civilization soon. 

What she found was railroad tracks.

A woman with dark hair and tattered clothes had taken one look at Cress when the train stopped and grabbed her on board. From there, Cress had traveled with other stowaways, who had helped her stay on board the train without getting caught. 

When they had asked where she was headed she simply replied with a small smile, “the city” because many net-dramas, movies, and tv shows occurred in “the city.” She wanted to be surrounded by people, fun and relationships. 

Nearly two months later, stuck in New York with no money and nothing to her name, Cress sat in the rain with completely different feelings than she had originally had about “the city”. She huddled closer into her box, which was slowly but surely being destroyed by the down-pour, picking up the chipped cup she begged for spare change with and stared at her five measly bucks, which was actually more than she had expected to get since she did not have a cool talent or even a sign like the other beggars.   
She was cold and hungry. Free, but miserable. 

Of course, her original plan when she was still in the satellite had been to fly down to on a stolen ship to Africa where most of the other escapee Lunars were, but that plan had been totally destroyed. 

She wished for the umpteenth time that she weren’t a shell - that she could glamour someone into giving her a warm meal or a place to stay. Unfortunately, that thought made Cress feel even worse about herself. The fact that she wanted to manipulate someone made her feel sick. 

But no one here would listen to her! Not that she had much courage to try too hard or assert herself, but no one wanted some girl with no resume in their business. 

Practically starving, she mused on the thought that she could be feeling like a person with the Lunar sickness might feel as the same crazy thought that had been plaguing her for weeks came back. Cress could only think of one thing to do to get her out of this situation. 

She would put her brilliant mind to good use and hack her way in to a good life. A new identity, fake records, and money. 

Then she would never do wrong again.   
\--  
When she had been hacking for Sybil, she had done it at one time with a sort of glee, then she had done it robotically as if it were second nature once she figured out that there would be no reward for it. 

But now she was sweating and her heart was beating crazy-fast.

Somehow, this just seemed so wrong. And terrifying.

All she had to do was press ENTER and her new life would be complete. All of the preparations were done. She would not be the Lunar shell, Crescent. She would be the human with money, Rapunzel Rider. 

She had snuck into a building where she knew the technology was top-notch hours after it had closed and only a few security guards were around she had managed to shut down the back gate’s defenses with just a portscreen and connector cable she had stolen from a woman’s purse. She had been scoping out this place for weeks and once she had infiltrated it, she had managed to turn off the cameras she needed to and avoid the security without much hassle by causing an alarm to go off in another room. 

Once she had entered the computer lab, it had been easy to finish the preparations she had been able to make on the portscreen. All she needed to do was have the documents printed and the money transferred into an account. 

Her finger shook as she raised it, preparing to drop it on that final key. 

“Well, hello there.” 

“Eep!” Cress squeaked, her body tensing upon hearing the voice. She quickly exited out of the screen. She swallowed hard, then slowly turned to look over her shoulder. 

Her eyes widened. 

She had seen this face more times than she could remember from her satellite. Carswell Thorne. Millionaire Play-Boy. 

She had known this was his facility, but she had never expected him to be here at this time of night. She definitely had not been expecting him to be in this very room.   
Hands and knees shaking, she slowly stood from the chair, though she wasn’t sure why. Thorne looked even stronger and handsome in real life than he did on the screen. Not to say that he was a heavyweight by any means, but he had a sort of lean-muscle to him that Cress knew she would never be able to outmatch. 

Especially since she was just skin and bones and she would never be able to run away fast enough from a healthy man such as Thorne. 

He raised his eyebrows and stared into her blue eyes, “wow, you’re short.”

Cress felt her face heat in embarrassment. 

“I- I was just leaving,” she tried to say casually, as if she were supposed to be there. Maybe Thorne would think she was just a worker who had stayed late. But at his frown, she remembered what she was wearing. The dress she had come out of the satellite in was torn enough to seem like a frayed t-shirt and the jeans she had gotten from a homeless shelter had holes and tears and was so faded that they could never count for a fashion statement. Her hair was ridiculously long, dirty and ungroomed, having never been cut by Sybil or herself and not washed recently. 

Cress went from embarrassed to absolutely mortified. Thorne was impeccable in his tailored suit, combed hair and clean-shaven face. 

He slowly starting to grin- a genuinely amused and intrigued grin that made Cress want to crawl back into her satellite’s wreckage and never come out. 

“I have got to hear this story,” he said simply, reaching out a hand for her to take. 

When she did not respond, he slowly took it- her grimy, dirty hand with dirt caked beneath her fingernails, and led her out of the room.   
\- -   
Once assured that she security threat and random camera-outages were not an issue and checked Cress for any weapons, the security team had begrudgingly let Cress walk out of the front door with Thorne, who seemed to find this whole predicament absolutely hilarious. 

He had opened the door for her to his sleek black car personally, causing the driver to raise his eyebrows in question. He even slid in next to her and had the driver roll up the partition so that they could speak in private. 

“I know you’re probably thinking ‘oh man, why am I getting into a vehicle with a complete stranger?’ but I promise I won’t hurt you,” Thorne explained. 

Exhausted and hungry, the thought hadn’t even crossed Cress’ mind. But she didn’t let him know that. Instead, she just nodded. 

Besides, somehow, it felt as if she already knew him. It was probably all the times she had seen him on television. 

“So tell me, why exactly did you break into my building?” Thorne asked, looking into her eyes as if he could find the answers there. 

Cress blushed and looked away, twirling a strand of hair around her finger again and again. 

“I was trying to get money,” she said in a small voice. 

Thorne furrowed his eyebrows. “Explain in detail.” 

She swallowed and twirled, twirled, twirled. She explained as quickly as she could that she was a hacker and that she had been trying to get a new identity. She didn’t tell him that she was a second away from succeeding. It was, of course, not mentioned that she was Lunar either. When he pried, she simply told him that her parents had abandoned her. 

“Well, you’ve got to be a pretty smart girl if you had almost made yourself a new identity,” Thorne said, rubbing his chin. “A girl as smart as you shouldn’t be homeless.” 

“These things happen,” Cress said quietly, sighing afterwards. Her stomach was in knots as they pulled up to a home bigger than any Cress had ever seen. When Thorne helped her out of the car, she found her knees shaking again. 

They bounded up the steps, and Cress stepped into a whole new world as soon as he opened the door. 

The plush carpet beneath her dirty sneakers made her gasp. She quickly bent down and pulled them off, afraid to get the pristine white carpet dirty. Thorne chuckled and continued on past the grand staircase while Cress marveled at the crystal chandelier, then the paintings before hurrying after him. 

He led her into the kitchen, covered in marble, and patted the cushion of a stool by a breakfast counter. He hummed as she sat, going to the large refrigerator and pulling out container after container. 

“My chef leaves food for me while I’m out,” he explained, popping the lid on one of the containers then handing her a spoon and plate. “You can get whatever and however much you like.” 

Cress shoveled spoonfuls of rice, broccoli, beans and grilled chicken onto her plate and was almost about to dig in before Thorne grabbed the plate and popped it in the microwave. The wait was torture as the smell started to waft from the machine, but Cress managed to wait patiently even as her stomach growled audibly and her mouth began to salivate. 

When the food was efficiently warm, Thorne sat the plate in front of her and she tried not to look like a complete savage while eating, but realized she was probably failing about halfway through.

Thorne looked tickled again, but managed not to laugh in her face. “I’m going to go draw you a bath,” he said instead, scurrying out of the kitchen quickly. 

She became full quicker than she expected, and finally took the time to think about her situation. 

She still had no money.

She was in a mansion. 

Scratch that, she was in Carswell Thorne’s mansion. 

And she was full. 

Cress had no idea what to do. She didn’t have much time to ponder on it further when Thorne came back into the kitchen in all his glory and shine. 

“You can come bathe if you want,” he said, picking up her empty plate and sitting it in the sink. 

“Why are you helping me?” she blurted out suddenly, looking down at the shiny breakfast bar, folding her shredded dress in her hands. 

Thorne grew quiet for a moment before sighing and rubbing a hand through his brown locks. He sighed and leaned against a countertop, one long led folding over the other. “I…don’t really know exactly,” he admitted, then grinned deviously, “probably because you’re so cute.”

Cress held back the urge to snort. “I’m not though.” 

“There’s potential under all that dirty and grime,” Thorne pointed out. “But really. I have a proposition for you. I just thought you’d like to eat and clean up first before I offered.” 

Cress looked up then. A mischievous twinkle was in Thorne’s eyes, and she found herself both wanting to know and dreading this so-called proposition all at once. Still, he had been right earlier when he had mentioned he was a complete stranger. This proposition could be an offer to be her sex-slave for all she knew. She’d rather know now than to continue to use his resources and climb herself further into debt with him.

“I’d rather you tell me now,” she admitted and was pleasantly surprised to find Thorne nodding afterwards.

“Sure,” he said, moving from his leaning-position to standing to his full height and slowly nearing her in that sexy swagger he had. Cress swallowed nervously. “Crescent, right?”   
She nodded. 

“Crescent, I want you to be my maid.” 

Cress blinked in confusion. Once. Twice. Then her lip started quivering uncontrollably before she let out a fit of giggles. “I-I’m sorry!” she sputtered, leaning over to clutch her aching stomach. “I-It’s just…I wasn’t expecting anything like that!” 

Thorne grinned and laughed too before shrugging. “I know, I know. But I’m serious! It could really work out for the both of us.” 

Cress finally calmed down enough to give him her full attention again, so he continued, “you could be my live-in maid. I’ve been looking for someone because I don’t like maid services running in and out. I want someone I can trust and who can get to know me personally so that they can see to it that everything is how I like it. Oh, you’re probably thirsty,” he said as an afterthought, turning to the fridge and pulling out a pitcher of water. 

As he gathered a glass he went on, “I would pay you for your service, of course. You could have off at five each evening and off the entire weekend like a normal job. I have a personal chef as I mentioned before, so you won’t have to worry about cooking. Simply cleaning up afterwards to take some stress off of my chef would be enough. And of course cleaning every room in the house, but we can talk more about your duties when we draw up an official contract. So what do you think? You in?”

He had started to talk quickly in his explanation, a sort of excitement bubbling up from his chest that even Cress could notice. She stared at him with wide eyes, bit her lip, twirled her hair. “You…you would trust me as a live-in maid…even after I broke into your facility?”

Thorne shrugged. “It’s not like you broke anything.” 

“B-but I was about to commit a federal crime!” 

Throne shrugged again. “We’ve all done it. Or at least thought about it. Besides, I saw you struggling at the end. You didn’t really want to do it,” he replied, “everyone deserves a second chance, Crescent.” 

She slowly sipped at the water he had poured for her then sat it back down, trying to push away the tears that was building up in her eyes. 

She had found a couple friendly people since she had landed on Earth. The woman who had helped her on the train, the people at the homeless shelter who had given her pants and shoes. A few kind souls who had given her spare change. 

Yet this kindness…from a millionaire that she had wronged…made her feel as if her chest would cave in on itself. 

“I’ll do it,” Cress said with a big of a strong voice as she could manage. 

Thorne’s smile was enough to make her heart stop. “Good decision,” he replied. “Let’s get you in that bath. You’re filthy!”   
\- - 

After her bath, which was absolutely exquisite, Cress felt like a whole new person. She had stayed in the bathroom for over an hour, scrubbing her body until her skin was red, soaking, soaking, singing, giggling. 

She wrapped herself in the white fluffy robe that Thorne had laid out for her. It was much too big for her, but somehow that made it even better. She padded to the room that Thorne had said would be hers for as long as she chose to live there. The room was more than twice the size her satellite had been. 

The first thing she did was jump into the king sized bed. The light pink sheets smelled of powder. Then jumped out and opened the curtains to the large window and found that she had a balcony, but didn’t go outside. 

A rush of disbelief and panic flooded her before an even bigger rush of gratefulness took over. 

Sybil either thought she was dead or did not care enough to come looking for her, a lonely shell on Earth. 

She was not starving or homeless anymore. 

She even lived with a hot millionaire. 

Tears streamed down her cheeks, a sob wracking her body. 

She could not remember ever being this happy. Not even she had hacked in to the castle in New Beijing for the first time. 

Things couldn’t possible get any better, she thought as she drifted into a deep, deep slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Cress woke up the next day, the sun was shining brightly through the window, whose curtains she had forgot to close last night. She groaned and pulled the soft sheets and covers up over her face and buried deeper into her pillow.  
Wait.   
Cress sprung up, eyes wide. It hadn’t been a dream!   
She was really in her new bedroom in Carswell Thorne’s mansion.   
She was really a maid.   
Cress gasped upon the realization that she had probably been expected to wake up early to start her day of work. That’s when she noticed the portscreen sitting on the pillow next to her. She did not remember going to bed with a portscreen, so she picked it up and woke the screen up. She raised her eyebrows at the comm that was left there.   
Good morning, sweetheart.   
By the time you get up, I’ll most likely be at work. Comm me when you see this.   
-Thorne  
Cress bit her lip and sent a quick reply. She sat for a full minute waiting for a reply then realized that Thorne was probably comm her back when he was not busy. So she swung her legs out of the bed and did her best to make it look exactly as it had before she had gotten in it last night, which wasn’t too hard because she had always cleaned up her space when she lived in the satellite.   
She then took the time to put her hair in a long braid and wondered if she would be able to find her old tattered dress and pants. Thorne had told her to put them in a bag and leave them outside the bathroom door before she had taken a bath last night, but she wasn’t sure what he had done with them after that.   
Just as Cress was starting to feel awkward standing in the big bedroom, she heard a ping from the portscreen. She practically leaped to the bed to get the device, finding herself eager to see what Thorne was going to say.   
Welcome back to the land of the living, sleepyhead.   
Cress chuckled and typed back her thanks.   
I’m sending you a document with a list of the things I expect from you. For today we’ll focus on polishing you up a bit so that tomorrow you can start work. At 12:00pm an escort droid will be arriving to help you do that. By 2:00pm the chef will be there to cook my lunch for tomorrow and dinner for tonight so don’t worry if someone else comes inside. She knows all of the security information so she can get in on her own. See you tonight.   
Cress nodded at the screen as if Thorne could see her, then checked the time. She had a half hour until the droid arrived. The portscreen pinged again, and Cress quickly opening the list of Thorne’s expectations for her.   
1\. Call me Captain  
Cress blinked, already not wanting to read the rest of the list. He was already being ridiculous. Cress knew from her prior research that Thorne had been in the military…but he certainly had not been a captain of any sort. But she supposed that she did not have a problem calling him by the nickname. It was sort of cute in a way…and better than calling him Master.   
Cress hurriedly read through the rest of the list. The majority of it had to do with her cleaning duties including the kitchen, bathrooms, and bedrooms. She would be given a certain amount of money for cleaning supplies and was expected to go shopping for whatever she needed as she needed it.   
The next part of the file was a non-disclosure agreement, which stated that Cress would not disclose any information she would find out about Thorne while living with him or thereafter. Cress frowned, wondering what she could possibly tell anyone that would be hurtful to Thorne, but did not dwell on it. She signed the agreement with her finger on the portscreen and then prepared herself to send it back to Thorne.   
To her surprise, she found herself hesitating. A wave of doubt passed through her. From her research, she knew that though Thorne had millions, he was not one for charity or handouts. He seemed to actually be quite greedy with his earnings. So why was he bothering to help her, a homeless girl with no place to go who had broken into one of his buildings? Though Cress couldn’t come up with an answer, she went ahead and sent the document to him.  
Living with Thorne had to be better than being homeless. Plus, the document had detailed her payment plan. She would be able to save up money and eventually move out.   
The only problem was that she did not have a bank account or even an ID chip to get one with. Those had been in her hacking plans, but she could not tell Thorne that she did not have an ID chip or an Earthen identity, lest he know that she was Lunar. She wasn’t sure how Thorne felt about Lunars, but judging from the newsfeeds and gossip shows she had viewed, most Earthens weren’t too fond of them.   
A resonating ding-dong made Cress jump and look around frantically for the source of the sound.   
Then she remembered from watching netdramas that that had been the sound of a doorbell. Even though she knew she was grinning like an idiot, she couldn’t help it. She hurriedly went towards the entrance, for a second forgetting where it was while imagining herself as a housewife.   
“Coming!” she called, thinking that was what was expected of her.   
When she finally reached the door, she marveled at the medium-sized netscreen that showed an image of a girl with dark skin and blue braids, who was puffing her cheeks in a manner that Cress assumed meant that she was already tired of waiting for the door to open. Just when she reached to ring the bell again Cress pulled open the door, surprising her. Cress let her eyes roam over the girl.   
“Oh, you must be Cress!” the girl chirped happily, easily moving past Cress and straight into the mansion as if she owned the place.   
“Um…yes,” Cress replied, closing the door behind the girl.   
“I’m Iko,” the girl said, walking forward and causing Cress to follow dutifully behind her. She carried a large bag swung over her shoulder and a platter of muffins and coffee cups with lids in either hand. She walked with a sway to her hips that Cress was positive she could never mimic. “So, what do you want done today?” she asked, handing over the tray of muffins to Cress and sitting the drinks on in their tray on the breakfast bar.  
“Ah- um,” Cress’ eyes widened as she wondered what this strange girl could possible mean. Then Thorne’s earlier message flashed through her mind. “Oh! You’re the escort droid!”   
Iko blinked. “Well, you didn’t have to mention that,” she pointed out, hands on her hips.   
Cress blushed and shook her head back and forth. “I’m sorry! It’s just that…you’re so…” Cress fumbled for the right words, but was thankful when Iko finished for her.   
“Human?” she asked, a wide grin on her pretty face. “I know. Anyways, I’m on a time limit here ya know. Thorne said to come here and do your hair and makeup or whatever you’d like. So what kind of style would you like?” she touched a lock of Cress’ long hair and squinted a bit. “I’d suggest a haircut.”   
Cress immediately broke out into a grin of her own. “You can do that?!”   
Iko let out a noise that sounded like something in between a cough and a gasp. She put a hand to her heart- or where her heart would be and fluttered her eye lashes. “When it comes to fashion, I can do anything.”   
\- -   
Thorne swiveled in his leather chair, staring at the signature page Cress had sent back to him with her signature on it.   
Crescent Moon.   
It certainly was a strange name. He had never met or heard anyone with the last name Moon before. The thought dawned on him that perhaps she had given him a fake name. After all, she had been trying to make an entire new identity when he’d found her in his computer lab.   
Thorne knew it was a risk to take this girl in. At first, he had thought she was half-crazy, but something had told him to check in to her story. So he had woken up earlier, letting the girl sleep, and had his best lab technicians to check out the computer she had been on and they had found her documents, proving that her story was true.   
She really was a hacker.   
And a damn good one at that.   
From that moment a plan had been blooming in Thorne’s mind. This girl could help him do something he had been wanting to do hassle-free for a very long time.   
Become even richer.   
He knew he could charm any girl into doing what he wanted, but there was something different about this girl. He had known it immediately. She had been practically blubbering in the hovercar on the way home last night. Despite her resolve to go through with it, they both knew that she didn’t want to- that she might not have ever pushed finished those documents even if Thorne had not shown up to stop her.   
He would have to slowly convince this girl. Any girl could be persuaded by his natural good looks and charm, but Thorne knew that it would take more than that if he was going to crack this case.   
After all, he was an entrepreneur. A businessman. Most recently, he had ventured into the world of modeling. He was good at what he did. He could get anything he wanted if he put his mind to it…. even if it meant stealing it.  
All Cress needed was some tender loving care.   
Thorne leaned over and stared at his android, which was waiting patiently in a corner of the room waiting for any command he chose to give.   
“Darla, cancel any appointments I have. I’m going to take the rest of the day off,” he said.   
“Right away, Captain.” Darla replied without a second thought.   
\- -   
They had headed off to the bathroom closest to Cress’ room. Iko had dragged a chair inside and started pulling supplies out of her big bag. Cress tried not to squirm when she had draped a large cape over her body. She had looked in Iko’s book of hairstyles and picked out one for herself. Iko had squealed excitedly and commented that it’d look great because of Cress’ heart-shaped face and bring out her big blue eyes. Cress didn’t really understand how hair could bring out her eyes, but she didn’t question it. Surely Iko knew more than she ever would in the hair-department.   
Iko had gone to work quickly, cutting Cress’ hair with precision as she hummed happily to the music she was playing through her portscreen. Cress watched in amazement as she stared in the mirror. Now she knew what the cape was for. Her long locks flew onto the cape and the floor with each snip of Iko’s silver scissors.   
After a while Iko moved in front of Cress, cutting off Cress’ view of the mirror. She could only watch as a few stray strands fell. Then Iko brushed the hair off her cape and moved to the side again.   
“How’s that?” Iko asked, but didn’t sound at all as if she were really asking somehow.   
Cress gaped. She opened her mouth to speak.  
“It’s beautiful.”   
Cress and Iko jumped in surprise at the same time. Iko was the first to recover after seeing Thorne standing in the bathroom doorway.   
“Isn’t it though,” she said with the biggest grin yet, twirling the scissors in her hand. “Hello, Thorne.”   
“Iko, looking as beautiful as ever,” Thorne smiled and kissed Iko’s hand, causing the escort droid to break out in a grin. Cress thought it was very possible that Iko was about to overheat.   
Just as Cress was starting to feel uncomfortable with Iko and Thorne’s display of…friendship, or whatever it was, Thorne’s blue eyes moved to her own. Cress felt her face heat up as Thorne stared at her intensely then moved her hand up to touch her short hair and gaze in the mirror some more. She bit her lip.   
Iko frowned and looked back and forth between Thorne and Cress. “You…you don’t like it?”  
“No,” Cress said breathlessly, standing up from the chair. Slowly, her face broke out in a grin and she turned to Iko quickly. “I love it! Thank you so much!”   
Iko laughed and hugged Cress, who was practically bouncing on her toes.   
Thorne let out a small cough to get their attention. “Measure her sizes for me, Iko. Then you can be off.”   
“Oh, sure!” Iko replied, as chipper as ever.   
“And tell Cinder I said to stop avoiding me or I’ll come camp out on her front door and never leave,” he added.   
Iko giggled. “I think that’s the last thing Cinder would want.”   
“I know. But that’s why it’d be so much fun,” Thorne replied with a wink and smirk.   
\- -   
Once Iko was gone, Cress suddenly realized that it was mid-afternoon and she still had yet to change out of the robe she had been in since last night. Luckily, Thorne had been smart and kind enough to pick her up some clothes and a toothbrush. He had done fairly well at guessing her sizes. The shirt was a bit loose, but it was still better than putting on her old raggedy dress.  
Now she couldn’t stop staring at herself in the mirror. She knew it was a bit vain of her, but she could help it. For the first time, she realized that she was…well…pretty. Sure, she was not as pretty or shapely as Iko, but at least she had a nice face.   
“Ready to go, Cress?”   
Cress turned to see Thorne standing in her doorway, looking as confident and dapper as usual. She blinked, suddenly remembering that he had previously said that he wouldn’t be home until that night and wondered what had changed his mind. “You’re home early,” she said softly, suddenly feeling a bit shy.   
“I thought it would be best if I came back early to help you out,” Thorne replied smoothly, then added, “and to get to know you better.”   
Cress felt her cheeks heating and looked away, not wanting Thorne to see her blush. She bit her lip and reminded herself that Thorne could be exactly as he was depicted in the media- a playboy. Yes, he was nice and she was grateful for him taking her in but in the end it wasn’t as if he wasn’t getting anything out of it in return. Cress did not to ignore that fact, but it seemed that ignoring his dashing good looks could prove to be a harder feat to accomplish than she thought it would be.   
Gathering her composure, she cleared her throat and dared to look at him again. “So where are we going anyways?” she asked.   
“To every girl’s favorite place,” Thorne replied with his signature grin. He took her hand and led her out of her room, down the steps and into the front room Cress was starting to know well. She glanced over at the kitchen and was surprised to see a blur of red cross her vision.   
“Is…someone in there,” she asked.   
“Oh, Scarlet must be here,” Thorne said, moving towards the kitchen, followed by Cress timidly.   
She tried not to look surprised at the chef who was quickly cutting up vegetables with striking precision. The girl’s curves made Cress feel ashamed of her own petite figure. Her beautiful red hair fells in curls down past her shoulders. She sniffed and wiped at her face with her sleeve before meeting eyes with Cress, who jumped a bit at the girl’s intense gaze.   
Then Scarlet smiled softly and wiped her hands with a towel. “This must be Cress,” she said. “Nice to meet you.”   
“N-nice to meet you too,” Cress replied.   
“I didn’t expect to see you here, Thorne,” Scarlet said, eyes sweeping over to their boss. Cress wondered if she was the only one who had been told to call Thorne captain, or if Scarlet just didn’t play by the rules.   
“I decided to take the rest of the day off,” Thorne replied with a shrug.  
“Slacker.”   
Thorne feigned a heart attack at Scarlet’s cruel words. “I’ll have you know that I work very hard, Ms. Benoit!”   
“Sure you do,” Scarlet said, “salmon for dinner by the way. I’ll remember to make enough for both you and Cress for now on. Oh…and before I forget,” she looked at Thorne pointedly, “my boyfr-…my friend is interested in the job, if you still need him.”   
“Oh, good. I can interview him tomorrow,” Thorne said, grabbing Cress’ hand again, “have him call me later tonight.”   
Scarlet nodded and they left her to finish her work.  
\- -   
Cress was just like a kid in a candy shop, just as he had hoped she would be. As soon as he had told her that he was taking her to the mall, all expenses on him, her clear blue eyes had lit up like a Christmas tree.   
She had practically toppled out of the hovercar and left him in the dust while he walked at a leisurely pace behind her. They entered the large mall, suddenly surrounded by people, and Thorne almost missed the quiet yet peaceful and nice silence they had in the car, with the occasional question from Cress or from himself.   
“Get anything you want,” he told her, “even lingerie.”   
He watched her cheeks redden a bit at that, greatly amused. This girl was too easy to read. She walked a bit, peering into the different stores with a watchful and shy gaze before he nudged her towards one that sold clothes he knew would be her size.   
She bit her lip then walked inside.   
The first thing Thorne noticed was that the store smelled of perfume. As Cress wandered towards a rack, he glanced over the entire store, catching the eyes of several women. He winked at one particular girl, who swooned and tugged on her friend’s shoulder before he decided to move closer to Cress and see what she had found.   
She held out a light blue babydoll top for him to see, her eyes questioning.   
Thorne took one look at the fabric and said, “nope.”   
Cress’ hopeful look shattered into a thousand little pieces but Thorne patted her head and chuckled. “It’s a bit too big for you, don’t you think? Here,” he pulled the right size off of the rack and showed her, “try this one.”   
Cress pouted and slowly took his offered top. “I could’ve figured it out myself.”   
Thorne blinked and shrugged. “Then next time I’ll let you handle it. The changing room is over there by the way.”   
Cress looked as if she was about to say something but took it back, moving to another rack and rifled through it before finding a pair of skinny jeans.   
Thorne watched, letting her choose her own clothes. For the first time, he really looked at her. She was petite- much smaller than the women he normally went for. But her size did not take away from her beauty at all, instead it accentuated it. She was more adorable than hot, but for some reason it did not make her plain or dull in his eyes at all. The little freckles that spread across her nose flared when she blushed and the twinkle in her eyes when she was happy was endearing.   
So far, even her personality was cute. Timid, yet not overly so…as if at every moment she was striving to have more confidence.   
Thorne liked a girl with a little personality.   
“I’m going to go try some of this stuff on,” Cress told him suddenly, as many clothes in her arms as she could handle. “Um…will you…tell me if they look okay?”   
“Not like I have anything better to do in this women-infested store,” Thorne replied with a smirk. Cress nodded.  
He watched her flurry off to a changing room.   
As soon as she was out of his line of vision, someone else came in to it.   
“Excuse me,” the girl, a teenager said excitedly, standing in front of her three friends who were whispering to each other and looking at him as if he were a piece of meat.   
Thorne had to hold back the urge to sigh. Usually, he enjoyed playing around and flirting with fans, but right now he found his mind on Cress, wanting to see her in that first outfit.   
“Yes?” he asked, perhaps a little too forcefully. But the girls either didn’t mind or they didn’t notice.  
“You’re Carswell Thorne, right? The millionaire?” one of the girls asked, and then her friend added, “The model?!”  
“That’s me,” Thorne moved some of his hair to the side and the girls practically melted like butter. “What gave me away? My crazy good looks or my natural ability to stand out in a crowd?”  
The girls giggled and Thorne felt his ego inflate a bit.   
One of the girls latched on to his arm and snuggled against it. “Mind if we take a pic? No one’s going to believe us otherwise!”   
“Take a picture with three lovely ladies? I’d love to,” Thorne conceded. The girls broke out into a fit of nervous giggles and red faces. He leaned down to get in the shot better as the girl held up her port and took the picture.   
When she lowered it, Thorne’s eyes immediately met ocean blue ones. “Cress,” he nearly jumped, startled by her sudden appearance. The three girls stared with wide eyes and backed up.   
He watched her face- it was the most unreadable expression he had ever seen in his life. It was a mixture of anger, sadness and confusion all at once before she smiled sheepishly and touched a strand of her now short hair.   
“I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said quietly then scurried away quickly like a mouse.   
Thorne sighed and ran a hand over his face.   
“Um, was that your girlfriend,” a girl asked.   
“No,” Thorne sighed, “that was my maid.”   
Thorne barely even registered when the girls slowly slunk away. Usually, when his women got mad at him for being with other girls, he would just calm them down by buying them something or making them forget by other tactics. But something told him that neither of those tactics would work with Cress.   
But what right did she have to be mad if he spoke to other girls? It was not as if they were dating. They had just met yesterday.   
When Cress finally emerged with a few less outfits in tow, he took them from her and paid for them without a second thought. They excited the store, Cress walking with a less-chipper attitude than she had before.   
Sighing, Thorne abruptly stopped walking, causing her to bump into him. “Look, sweetheart,” he said, looking down at her, totally forgetting his plans to seduce her for the moment. “You’re going to have to get used to me being surrounded by women. They’re naturally attracted to me, you know.”   
Cress’ face flushed and she shook her head back and forth quickly. “I-I’m not jealous, if that’s what you’re insinuating!”   
Thorne raised his eyebrows. “Then what’s wrong?”  
She looked away and twirled rubbed a hand up and down her arm. “Well…I guess jealousy is a part of it…” she said slowly, “but it’s mostly because…I…I thought that you were giving me your undivided attention today. So when those girls showed up…I was a little disappointed, that’s all.”   
“Aces,” Thorne breathed, running a hand through his hair. This girl certainly was a different species than what he was used to dealing with. She had a knack for making Thorne for feeling like a bigger jerk than he was used to. And he was used to being called a jerk on an everyday basis. “I’m sorry, Cress. I didn’t think about it that way,” he admitted, surprising himself. It was true. He had never thought she could be disappointed. Angry and jealous, yes…but disappointed? No. Usually women didn’t care for his undivided attention unless he was in bed with them.   
“It’s alright…Captain,” Cress broke out into a smile that reached her eyes.   
Thorne felt his heart beat against his chest.   
Maybe he shouldn’t have told her to call him Captain.   
She said it was such innocence and sincerity that it gave him pause. The way she said it…. was sexy in a way that wasn’t meant to be. She said it in a way that made him want to hear her say it again and again. As she walked past, happy again, he watched her with wide eyes.   
“Easy, old chap,” he told himself, “she’s just the hired help.”   
\- -   
Both of their arms were full of bags by the time Cress had finished shopping. He had shown a worker Cress’ three sizes that Iko had taken down earlier and the two had gone off, picking out under clothes for Cress while Thorne was forced to sit on a bench outside of the store like a good boy even though he had practically begged Cress to let him help her pick out her lingerie.   
Now they were taking a break in the food court. Cress sat a tray in front of Cress, who was practically salivating at the sight of the cheeseburger, fries, and soda. Thorne took his seat across from Cress and dipped his fry in ketchup.   
“Scarlet would kill me if she found out I was eating this junk,” Thorne said with a wicked grin that proved that the thought of annoying Scarlet amused him more than it scared him.   
Cress bit into her burger and looked as if she had to find her way back down to Earth from heaven before she could finally answer. “Scarlet seems like she could knock you down a size.”   
Thorne laughed, “Well, she is pretty tough. But not tough enough to beat a Captain,” he said with a wink.   
Cress smiled and bit into her food again.   
“Besides, we have to fatten you up a bit. You were nearly half-starved yesterday,” Thorne said.   
Cress chewed slowly. She fidgeted a bit, ignoring the urge to look down at her skinny wrists. “I ate enough to survive,” she replied softly.   
“Indeed you did,” Thorne said, “but Cress…if you were homeless all of your life without parents, how did you learn to be so good with computers?”  
Cress nearly choked on her food. She looked up at Thorne, who was staring at her intensely. She wracked her brain for an answer- something that would fit into her story of her parents not being there from a very young age without giving away that she was a Lunar who had been trapped on a satellite for most of her life. Wasn’t it the law for Earthen’s to attend school as children?   
Cress swallowed her food and then sipped her drink. “I learned at school,” she said simply, thankful that her voice didn’t crack.   
Thorne blinked and opened his mouth to say something, when a teenager and a middle-aged woman walked up to the table, asking to have a picture with Thorne. When he sat back down, Cress quickly jumped into a different topic.   
“So how did you meet Iko? Or- does she come from a company?”  
“Iko used to be an android owned by my mechanic actually,” Thorne said, “when she was fixing my hovercar once, she asked that I give her an escort droid body instead of money. She doesn’t know that I just switched my person assistant’s body with Iko’s though.”   
Cress tilted her head to the side, wondering what sort of person this mechanic could be if she’d rather do something nice for her android above getting the currency she was owed. “She sounds like a nice person.”   
“She’s always yelling at me, pessimistic at times, and hotheaded,” Thorne replied. “But she’s also hilarious without trying to be, strong-willed and a great mechanic. She’s my only… friend…” Thorne trailed off and found himself staring at Cress, was staring back intently. The small smile on her face made Thorne feel as if he had just let out his biggest secret. He cleared his throat and leaned back, trying to look nonchalant. “Anyways, I’m sure you’ll meet her one of these days. I’m always breaking something one way or the other.”   
“I look forward to it,” Cress replied, looking him in his eyes with a boldness that she normally did not seem to possess. “I’m sure she’s great…just like you.”   
Thorne felt a pang of gratefulness to Cress.   
Yet at the same time an even greater pang of guilt was already beginning to gnaw at his heart and resolve.


End file.
